Grrl Power #645 – Back up!
Peggy is mostly kidding about that being a flare. She does work with Supers, and they tend to overdo certain things. Still, blowing up a mountain in lieu of a flare is a little over the top, even for Maxima.
Well. Unless she’s positive no one’s living on the mountain. Not even squirrels. She’s only blown up a few mountains in total. Small mountains really. And only one of them was full of insurgents who had just shot up a school for girls. The others were to establish her credentials as “She who is not to be fucked with” because it doesn’t matter how many times you tell someone that they will lose hard if they go up against you. The human ego, being what it is, needs unassailable proof before it will allow some people to back down.
In case it’s difficult telling what’s happening here (it’s clear to me, but, you know, I wrote it) basically, the explosion went through the portal and set off Sciona’s self-destruct kit.
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I foresee another one of those situations. You know – Achilles has been blown clothesless by the outgoing blast, then blown to impact with Halo’s bubble by Sciona’s self-destruct blast. So Max and Syd and Dabbler and a confused Daphne will be “treated” to the sight of a naked Achilles splayed out like a six-limned starfish (two arms, two legs, two heads…) in “mid air.”
Hope Halo et al were blown through the portal as well.
I’m pretty sure Halo’s shield is the most secure they could possibly be, and the explosion was centered on them. Depending on the exact nature of that attack, the force would be primarily directed either straight down or straight up. Either way, I don’t see them getting flung through the portal just yet.
What he’s saying is that SCIONA’S explosives are BEHIND Achilles, so they may fling him forward, through the portal and up against Halo’s shield… butt naked.
doubt it. where the kaboom hit was very close to the portal. so he stood and continued wondering after the blast ripped his clothing off. So he’s probably still standing there. buried in mountain. wondering
There were two different and separate explosions: panel three was from the Portal in front of Les, panel four was Sci’s defense going off from other directions (you can see a few of the barrels in the background of panel two
Okay, maybe Sydney might not mind seeing a Full Monty Achilles plastered on her shield…She’s already gotten a double-handful of his bare butt.
https://www.grrlpowercomic.com/archives/1164
Unlikely. Sydney showed a dislike of Achilles, in the canteen, over the ‘mouthfeel’ incident. Extreme enough that it could not be attributed to an awkward over-reaction due to awkwardness or concealed feelings.
Plus she was obviously very unhappy at the accidental fondling. Her hiss was not a pleasure reaction.
Whilst Sydney has enjoyed soft-core ogling, she clearly was unhappy at seeing Vehemence, in all his glory. And she got on well with him.
I hope Achilles eventually gets a sign.
With the booby traps going off, he will probably pull a chunk of metal out of his butt, with the inscription:
I wonder how he will interpret the omen?
Too subtle.
How about getting hit with a sign that says
This is your sign to move.
Still slightly too subtle.
Invincible, yes.
Smart? Not so much…
It’s less that, and more that his sense of danger is so massively atrophied that all that going on around him is just… stuff. Not important.
This right here. He has no sense of self preservation. At all. He knows he can’t be killed.
Okay, it’s not completely gone to the point of him being willing to sneak up and tickle goldengirl, but that’s only because it’s a pain in the ass to walk back from the next county.
I think it’s more likely Maxima would fly up to the stratosphere then put Achilles into Orbit, LITERALLY
This, definitely. He might be bored in terms of sense of danger, but at least he isn’t just orbiting the planet, endlessly, now that’d would be another scale of boredom.
SPAAAACE!
this does raise a QUESTION though. Does he need to BREATHE?
Maybe he can breathe in space the same way that Batman can.
No, he does not. He is immune to any kind of damage. Of which suffocation is specifically listed.
Awww, come on… No one caught the Man with 2 Brain’s reference?!
Sadly I have only ever seen trailers for it. However I did find the scene in question.
*wags tail approvingly*
I am sad though, because I would like to have linked to another Steve Martin film, L.A. Story. Where one of the characters is a highway sign! Not a central character mind, but it does play important parts at key moments in the movie. Even appearing in the the love angst montage. Which is one of the most moving parts of the film, set as it is to Enya’s music.
And the highway sign plays the bagpipes! Or as best it can improvise, with its hollow poles.
I was reminded of the similar (tribute?) scene in Orgazmo.
I love where all this has been going.
I also love Achilles as a character, but “Aaany kind of sign.” feels off. Any rational human being is going to have a much more energetic reaction to suddenly finding himself in the middle of a portal-funneled explosion.
Going for a laconic response, I can see something along the lines of “Yeah, that’ll do.” (I have no problem with him not displaying a “panic” reflex–someone who’s been invulnerable for much of his life might simply lack the adrenalin-punch reaction to sudden danger because he doesn’t recognize _anything_ as sudden danger anymore.)
Eh, could also be sarcasm. Either way, he does this a lot.
“Marshmallow?”
“I’m the best at strateg.. yaa”
and just the whole burger-mouth-feel page
I just take it as his droll sense of humour. Plus it is not exactly an easy to interpret sign. I think he was hoping for something more like this.
*SNORT*
I just interpret that as his reaction when his request for “a sign” is met with overkill.
There is no sign like an oversign :P
I misread it as “aah, my kind of sign” and it made perfect sense.
Maybe he’s waiting for movie sign?
To be honest, a portal-funneled explosion may be a sign, but it’s not a sign of “whether he should enter”. Especially for someone who seems nigh indestructible.
On one hand, explosion means danger where he can help out. On the other hand, there’s Maxima who makes massive explosions where his help isn’t needed. And on the third hand, even if they need help, going through may not be helping. Not exactly clear when you’re in the context of who went to the other side.
Buuuut as others said, I took his “any kind of sign” as his particular brand of humor.
It’s a quote from the movie ‘Orgasmo’ by the guys that made South park. at one point the mormon hero is asking for a sign as to whether or not he should star in a porno to get money to rent the chapel to marry his sweetheart in. There’s a minor earthquake that causes his Jesus statue to move across the table then fall off, and he ask again for any sign.
This is the man who blocked a sword point with his eyeball, just because he could, and because it would discombobulate his opponent. And smiled happily the whole time, because why not?
I mean…The dude has been in so many explosions that they actually got BORING for him. He’s probably grilled burgers at ground zero of a nuclear missile test. One would get pretty desensitized after awhile.
Heh – I wonder how much he could wind Halo up by talking about the “mouth feel” of assorted ground zero experiences he’s been in?
Yeah, that wasn’t apparent at all. I thought it was just the explosion itself. I mean, why bother making it an explosion that triggered a bunch of other explosions? The explosion by itself is cool enough, unless you’re Taco Bell. Besides, explosions are used to disable explosives.
This is a fundamentally wrong statement. Explosives are used to dispose of explosives, not disarm them.
Oh, I dunno, sympathetic detonations do, in fact, disable most highly-reactive chemicals… in the sense that they are no longer quite so volatile once the reaction has run its course.
When a bomb disposal unit uses explosives to disable a bomb they have found, that could also be called “disposing of them.” A disposed of bomb is indeed disabled, and a disabled bomb can be disposed of at your leisure or perhaps is already disposed of via the disabling explosives. So perhaps we just have a issue of semantics?
It was apparent to the rest of us that the *BOOM* in panel three came from the Portal, seeing how Les was facing it asking for a sign
What exactly do you mean by “the rest of us?” Are you pulling your usual trick of reading words but failing to understand them?
Forget it, your not worth it
Why is The Who’s Who blank?
Never mind. It’s not blank now.
Weird.
If there is some lag on your connection to the internet (or on the PC, if you are running other tasks, for instance), elements of the website can be slow to load. Or in extreme cases fail to load at all.
Likewise any website can glitch at times, due to the vagaries of the internet.
Either way, if it does not fix itself, just tell it to refresh by hitting F5 (or whatever key your browser may have instead).
fwiw, tcp/ip specifically requires that a) some data may fail to reach destination and b) destination host (your browser) must gracefully handle the failure without puking. (This description is somewhat loosely translated.) Result is (as Yorp says) that elements of a page may not show up, while your browser doesn’t bother to tell you. Modern HTML implements this so gracefully that the missing bits are surgically removed in toto and carefully sutured over, leaving the page completely without indication of data loss, unlike (for example) other transmission technologies oops and aaaaahhh. I think tcp/ip handles loss in a more mature, non-barfilicious manner.
Sickbay officer of the watch, please report to the transporter room. With a bucket and mop.
Trust me you don’t want to see partially-digested HTML regurgitated on your browser. I saw enough of that when the web first started (yes kids I’m old, gopher and WAIS anyone? http://ftp.uu.net?). Brrr.
Something just occurred to me…
Dabbler didn’t know what planet they’re on. She didn’t recognize Sciona’s species. She assumed that there’s some galactic police force that could have been responsible (Xevoarchy?). The problem is… that portal is magic, so it defies science. At the very least they could be beyond the Hubble Volume. They could also be in a completely different prime material plane (like… a completely different multiverse that has no causal link of any sort to their multiverse).
I know it’s kind of inconsequential at this point, but what I’m getting at here is… if they get back to Earth, unless the portal is stabilized, they have no way of ever getting back to what ever world that is. It could literally be anywhere, even if that anywhere is literally nowhere.
To the contrary Dabbler spoke of the Alari’s character as being the likely cause of provoking the Xevoarchy. This was not couched in terms such as “extrapolating from Sciona’s behaviour”. Thus indicating that not only had she heard of them, she knew their modus operandi.
Not to forget, Sci Herself recognized her home from just one half-obscured statue, so it wasn’t just an Alari statue, it was most likely one she knew growing up
Possibly.
However ‘home’ is relative. If you were stuck on an alien planet for years, and stepped through a wormhole, to see the Eifel Tower or the Statue of Liberty, you too would likely to express your happiness in being ‘home’. Even if it is on the other side of the world, to where you used to live, that is still something/ somewhere familiar enough that you can be confident that you are on Earth.
It’s pretty easy to guess the character of the Alari simply through context, so I’m not convinced by that…
We discussed this. Dabbler debriefed Halo on the Alari on the way to the bridge.
It makes me wonder as to the social dynamics between angels and demons? We know that they go to school together (or at least that there was one, perhaps an exchange student, in Dabbler’s school).
It’s all politics, and PR, makes me wonder if Ari went to the same school :P
Ahhhhh, Phooooey, she did not protect the opening like I thought, and he teasing us about what happened to them on the other side….I call Foul!! Hummmph!
You would have to summon a pretty big fowl, if it is to stand a chance against a Mecha-Cthulhu!
How could blocking Hiro’s path to the opening by enclosing them in her shield possibly be interpreted as the opening being within her shield?
You are misinterpreting the intent. Some of us speculated that Halo might have moved up, in between the penultimate and final frames, such that the force field blocked the entrance to the wormhole. Thus protecting the interior of the wormhole (and those beyond) from being exposed to the blast.
Incidentally although impressive, those explosions emanating from the mountain could mostly be the secondary detonations, from Sciona’s traps (we know that they went off, per Dave’s blog). As such Halo may have been able to block the worst of the explosion, but some would have leaked past, round the edges.
Exactly, the only other reason is it blew thru her shield and I dint think the writer is ready to do that to us right yet. And what about a Gargantuan Dire Fowl? Could that slow it down?
Either that or cast “Summon Bigger Fish”. Both seem to be good options.
Here is your +1 back from a couple weeks ago.
Not sure what you’re getting one more of, but here it is.
*tucks table cloth, into collar, to serve as giant napkin*
*starts eating 1 giant fish*
Let me guess. The mountains Peggy blew up were in Florida.
Stop trying to confuse me, just because my knowledge of American geography is patchy!
Florida = swamps and faerie mouse castles, no mountains
Whereas the Florida Mountains are actually in New Mexico.
And they’re pronounced differently, too.
FLOR-ih-duh is the state.
Flor-EE-dah is the mountain range.
Is that like “Kansas” and “Arkansas”? o_O
And Flo-Rida is, apparently, a rapper.
Just like in “Miami Guns”…
Well, it is a very clear and obvious kind of flare?
Is anyone else worrying about the 2 consequences of the explosion that we aren’t seeing???
(1) The explosion had enough force/energy to collapse the portal. = Stranded Supers
(2) The explosion didn’t have enough force/energy to collapse the portal. = Black Mesa Event
It is a concern. However the portal is being sustained by an artefact – they are notoriously tough to destroy.
Not… quite puppy, the portal was created via an artefact, that was interrupted and prevented from fully completing the circle, which is what caused the portal to become unstable
Touché.
Still that is the control of the portal which was disrupted. The fact that it is still open indicates that at least that much is still functional. Which is a functionality that was provided by an artefact.
Since Sciona set up the self destruct presumably to close the portal once she was through, the detonation may have indeed shut down the portal. This would have the serendipitous effect of protecting Earth from discovery by Space Chuthulu.
This might not leave the Away Team stranded. Once Daphne shakes off the effects of having 20% of herself forcibly relocated halfway across the galaxy, I’m thinking she may be able to ferry the team home. I know this is a heck of a long vorp for her, but I’m thinking one Harem as an anchor on Earth, the blonde Harem as an anchor on Sciona’s world, a third Harem as the actual shuttle, and the final two are de-instantiated to give Daphne the strength to pull this trick off.
Hey, I know this is far fetched. It just always seemed to me that Daphne shouldn’t have any problem vorping one part of herself to someplace where another part of her is already at. And if her quantum entanglement is involved in her vorping, then distance should never really be a problem. This may be the incident that shows Daphne that she is far more powerful than she has believed up until now.
That is mixing up cause and effect. The quantum entanglement was a side effect of using her teleporting power.
Normal process = create duplicate then disintegrate original.
The cloning process omitting the latter stage, but because they are absolutely identical (essentially being just the one being in two places at once) they are quantumly linked. The super power conveniently limiting this to just the brain. Otherwise they would all have to move exactly the same all the time, if their bodies and limbs were quantum linked too.
We can create quantumly linked particles, but nothing about that process indicates that we can create one half of the pair on another planet. They have to be split up and moved there by other means. Harem can use her teleportation, of course, but that is independent of the quantum linking.
Here though we hit the other problem. Namely that Dave has indicated that Harem’s teleports are not powerful enough to do that. He did give approximate distances. Sadly I forget the details. I do recall mentally summing it up as ‘Earth only’ for the recalling to a familiar place, and ‘continental type distances’ for the normal sort. That was a very loose interpretation though, so folks are best off trying to track that down if they want word of god.
The Grrlverse is in the super genre, so that is indeed always a possibility. And with the convenient excuse of having been exposed to an interstellar transport, by going through the wormhole. Barring that though…
Way above her current weight limit. Even with all her other bodies dismissed Harem’s maximum capacity was Peggy’s Barrett sniper rifle. So could not even rescue Sydney, who is by far the lightest.
Even if she could lift Sydney, the only living things (not counting Vahriah) she can *VORP* is what is in or on her (ie bacteria and viruses), not even a baby
I’m still thinking that Harem may be a lot more powerful than even she is aware of. You have to remember that four times now she was able to create herself an additional body. One has to ask exactly where did the mass of those new bodies come from.
According to this Discover Magazine article, the atomic bomb that was dropped on Hiroshima converted a total of 700 milligrams of matter into energy. This released 6.3 x 10^13 joules of energy, or 15 Kilotons of TNT. Assuming a single instance of Harem weighs 50 Kilograms, it would require her to convert approximately 4.5 x 10^21 joules of energy into matter every time she clones off a new body. That is a formidable amount of energy for her mind to collect and convert into matter.
Consider also that if vorping involves her turning a body into energy, moving it to a new location and then returning the energy back into matter then she is moving that much energy around on a regular basis. As she does all this simply by willing it so, I tend to believe that many of the limitations she currently has are more a matter of her belief in herself than they are a hard limitation imposed by physics.
All of this is speculation of course. Only DaveB knows what Daphne’s true limits are. I find Harem to be an exceptionally intriguing character, and my gut feeling is there has to be more to her and her power than what we’ve seen so far.
Many of the super powers we have seen in this setting can create/destroy vast amounts of energy or defy universal laws in part or in whole. However the characters have specific ways in which they are able to access those energies or apply the rule-bypassing.
You are right though that these are not necessarily absolutes, as power-stunts can be developed to enhance powers. As alluded to, in the gameplay session, at the outset of the comic. Such stunts though will be within the desired power limitations and themes of the character that Dave wants.
If you crank up teleportation to going across the galaxy, then those energies you mentioned get multiplied by a staggeringly large number (well above four! *waves all four paws in the air*).
If Harem then used that power stunt to justify increasing her carrying capacity, for shorter range teleports, then it may turn out that she could teleport a small country (or maybe the planet)!
And then develop the power stunt which allows her to change the order she does her powers in. Doing the disintegrate first (with the teleport then being moot).
Yes, Dave could grant Harem the ability to destroy the Earth, in the blink of an eye. But would he want to?
Of course, now we have to worry about whether the planet destroyer might decide to investigate our side of the wormhole…
Dabbler, Slayer of Gods, Destroyer of Planets, Scourge of Underwear, already knows about Earth.
Wrong planet destroyer! He means the other one, more tentacles, less cuteness… and not Vale either. One who wants to catch Sydney and who’s gonna love her and pet her and squeeze her and call he Georgette…
What Alyxvixen said. Although, there is nothing wrong with a little world destruction via snoo-snoo. Personally, if the planet has to end, this definitely rates in the top 5 ways.
Heck it is on my to do list! Check out the last two entries:
• Death by snoo-snoo.
• Viking ship burial at sea.
Oooo, a self-destruct kit. I knew something was missing. Every mad scientist needs one. Now, where I should put mine… The oven? My minion (she inists on my calling her “darling” or “dearest wife” for some reason) might object, but it does seem like the best place.
If you are going to continue to refer to your dearest, darling wife as your minion, Ima stand waaaaaaaaay back here… in body armor. Maybe in a foxhole. Behind sandbags. Possibly with Switzerland’s flag.
Much this.
Good idea. And the Swiss Flag is a big plus.
*…slowly face-palms…* Well done.
Inverse ninja!Inverse St-George!
Make sure that you stream this interaction live over the internet. I want to enjoy it from another continent; with popcorn, as is the proper Grrl Power way. Kettle corn flavor would do nicely for this.
Achilles needs to start getting dressed by Edna Mode.
She threw him out after he kept asking for a cape
:-D
I could just picture that.
I can imagine Edna pointing to a small water-surrounding area of land and saying ‘if you must have a cape, there’s one over there, dahling, but I will not be making you one, nor will I be making your suit if you persist’
And let’s face it, the mountains were totally asking for it, calling her names and wolf-whistling at her…
How much of achilles life does he spend buried in rubble? Does he pass the time with word games?
He carries an emergency book of suduko puzzles with him at all times. Unfortunately, they were in his back pocket.
“Dammit, I lost my pen!”
I forgot about the self destruct. I thought it was just the alien explosion going through the various tunnels and such
Couldn’t he have asked Daphne if she knew what was going on? Or does the mountain block communications?
They didn’t bring a spare Daphne, only Blondini was on Team Alpha, and she’s bubbled on Alaria with the rest of the team
I’m not aware of any contemporary hand-held communicators which could transmit from deep underground. If there is something, capable of doing that, it is not likely to be an item that they were equipped with for an emergency aerial pursuit.
“It was just a little work out. The mountain was structurally unsound! It was coming down anway-“
why Peggy haven’t you heard of the greatest flare in the world?
the ultra destructo 5000 Flare Lite Edition. sometimes mistaken as a cluster-bomb…
MOAF?
Would that be the “MOAF?”
Well it’s the lite edition so…Daughter Of All Flares?
is it just me or does the portal look like a technicolor butthole in the first panel?
A butthole is just a sphincter, and essentially a wormhole is a sphincter in space-time.
Quite the job keeping from being destroyed and preserving the worm hole to return to Earth.
Can you even go through a portal if the other side nolonger has room on the otherside for you to arrive in as I can’t help thinking that that blast collapsed the complex.
You can but would exit at a velocity to quick for you and it would be a contest of your bodies structure vs the object in the way thus a sudden and very uncomfortable stop for your body. The good news it probably happens to fast for your body to have successfully sent the message to your brain so likly painless, Unless you know, your nearly indestructible and the thing in the way isn’t…
Alien: O hai, I see you’ve accepted my greeting charge and responded ever so politely. It’s always a pleasant surprise to come across other folks with such good manners! Nice to meet you!
Maxima: Good morning… I’m Max. Hey, thanks for looking after the Alari. They were getting a bit on our nerves and we were thinking of vaporizing them.
Alien: Oh… yeah, mushy bunch. We greeted them, but apparently they couldn’t even bring themselves to respond in kind. Not even that last little one just now… Hey, I’m S’vuntoos’x it’s great to know folks at our level and… I’ve got to say, Miss… Blue? – you’re cute! Hope I’m not being too forward… Been in deep space a while… Do you have a boyfriend?
Dabbler: Dabbler. No one steady right now.
Hiro: Mr… 726? Hello. Hiro. Pleased to make your acquaintance. I was wondering if you could point us toward the Andromeda Galaxy? We’d love to stay and chat but we’ve gotten a bit twisted around here on this dust ball and we’ve got a message to deliver there before getting back to base for dinner.
Alien: Aw, you have to leave so soon? I was just considering hosting a game of strip Jenga back up on the ship and asking you to join us. I imagine Miss Dab’lr here might enjoy a game…
Maxima: How thoughtful of you! But maybe next time; we didn’t anticipate spending even as long as we’ve already been here, and we really have to move on to our next objective.
Alien: Fair enough… . Vector over that way about 1.7 Giga LY. If you see M110 you’ll know you’ve gone too far. Certainly nice to have met you.
Sydney: Thanks, dude! I have to admit that Jenga game sounded rad, but no can do right now… Later!
BOOOM!
Alien : Well, I’m glad they were nice…
S’vuntoos’x to beam up…
I’m impressed with Achilles’ ability to withstand the force of the explosion… (also, I assume he’s naked right now?)
Sydney often wanders around without her shield up. Which gets very worrying. I hope that the Brown Mystery Orb gives her invulnerability like Achilles’s (with an ‘always on’ upgrade available).
Sorry, but “always on” would at most be when held, the way those things seem to work. But I suppose it’s possible for it to modify her body/stats when held and leave them that way til she uses it again.
Let’s go with that idea, it would be better if the orbs allowed the user to interact with their environment with their hands then always having their hands full. But, there is always the chance that the species that developed the orbs had more than two arms and hands, so could hold more than two orbs at a time.
So far most of the orb’s capabilities function only when held, granted. However note that she can command them mentally, without touching them. Causing them to punch or form complex patterns. Whilst this is not ‘always on’, in that it requires her concentration, it is demonstrating that being held is not always a prerequisite.
Then we turn to the fact that the glyphs and sigils are cloaked from anybody other than Sydney seeing them. That is always on. Likewise that electronic devices (such as cameras and Dabbler’s cybernetic eye) cannot detect/record either those or the skill tree. Likewise always on.
Finally there are many skill points yet to unlock. Some of which will just be upgrades on a known theme (making the shield stronger or allowing Halo to fly faster, for example). However others are bound to provide new capabilities, which would therefore break the known limitations she presently has.
That said though you are right that such changes will be within certain limits that Dave has envisaged, from the outset. Yours is a good suggestion and may match one of the upgrades that he has mapped out (literally). I doubt there will be any which allow the ‘two hands’ limitation to be broken, except on a strictly limited basis (such as with Varia’s help).
Still it is fun to envisage Sydney regularly suffering from the same problem that Achilles does.
*wags tail cheekily*
And suddenly light years away dabbler has suddenly 2 reasons to get back home…very soon
So someone has a flair/flare for this kind of job?
….
Okay, I got to know something.
Why is Achilles’ hair the length it is?
I mean, if it was vulnerable to damage it would be a hell of a lot shorter. Like, burned away entirely. Every ten days or so.
And if it’s NOT invincible to damage, then why isn’t it down to his ankles? It’s not like hair clippers or scissors have a chance in hell of keeping it trim.
Does this mean his powers only manifested a couple of years ago and this is how long his hair’s grown since then?
Its been a while since the last time I was in an Achilles discussion but I think he is immune to several different kinds of change while still being able to move about and experience things. Magic derived powers though nothing said in story yet I don’t think.
Oberon sums it up well. Achilles has been unchanged since at least the 80’s, hairstyle and all. He has not aged, his hair does not grow (as far as we know, but implied by the unchanging hairstyle and other factors), and nothing can harm him, in any way.
He can still eat, breathe, make new memories, and otherwise function as a human though. So whatever changes are necessary for each of those still work (such as forming new neural connections to make a memory). Being unable to eat or breathe does not hurt or kill him though.
Wait, what if he has been unchanged for far longer, it’s just his style of hair didn’t become popular until the 80’s?
Sounds like Spike from Buffy the Vampire Slayer influencing Billy Idol’s look while everyone thinks its the orher way around :)
You may have another coolness point.
Two more and you will be in demand, to keep orphanages cool, in desert regions!
Who says that Spike influenced Billy Idol’s look? Oh, right, he says that. But we know that Spike’s word wasn’t exactly reliable. He lied to make himself seem more of a badass and he regularly tore down people around him for the same reason. So as far as we know Billy Idol influenced Spike’s look.
Vampires are prone to inserting themselves into significant bits of history:
That said though they have lived through history, have superhuman powers and a desire to spice up the boredom of eternal life. So it would be hard for them not to do some significant stuff, sooner or later. Well for smart ones, like Spike, anyhow.
Heh, I’d like to see a humble vampire:
“The crucifixion? I was alive then, but in what is now Uganda. Woodstock? I didn’t even hear about it. Although I was in the US at the time I was laying low in Arkansas.”
Those are the ones likely to survive that length of time. Keeping to the shadows. Avoiding places and situations that are likely to catch the public’s attention.
Even if you can survive outside, on cloudy days, you don’t go to wave the president as he goes by. Because if anything noticeable happens, say an assassination attempt, every face in the crowd will appear on some TV show or another for decades or centuries to come.
And you certainly don’t go seeking out vampire hunters or other dangerous individuals. Why bother. Wait a few years and they will die. Plus it is even worse in that setting. Given that, even if you win the fight, a new Slayer will replace the previous. And there may be some record of the encounter, to give that one the edge.
If we assume that vampires must feed periodically (even if they can go torpid for long periods of hibernation-like sleep), then the humble vampire would still have an edge over one who headed up a powerful organisation. The latter attract attention, and interest always goes towards whoever calls the shots.
So, in the Grrlverse I would imagine that at least one of the most ancient and powerful vampires will be living in some quiet suburb, within a boring commute of areas where homeless, and other socially invisible, people live. Whilst neighbours will say how quiet, polite and unassuming they are.
Actually it’s a running gag. Between Buffy and Angel, it was said in 4 different episodes, including by one of the Watchers (I forget the name of the one on Angel -that one – but I take that as being correct and not just Spike bragging), Buffy, and Angel.
Wesley Wyndam-Pryce
The Head Douche Watcher? Niles was the only good Watcher
Wesley becomes pretty badass later on, especially in Angel’s later seasons.
Yeah, butt he remains a douche (didn’t they end up killing him?)
At least he became a badass douche, which is better than an ineffectual one.
And he died pretty badass too fighting Vail with that energy bolt.
Yup, hence the ‘at least’ caveat. There is a pretty good chance that he is THE Achilles, of legend. With that whole heel problem just being disinformation.
Bearing in mind that Arianna did indicate, at the press conference, that supers were likely to have been the source of various legends. Officially his power origins are unknown (even to him). However this is something that Archon must have considered as being a possibility. Hence laying the groundwork for a later public reveal, should the theory be confirmed.
And not forgetting that there is a whole faction, in the Twilight Council, composed of the heroes out of ancient Greek legends. So they are actual beings, in the Grrlverse.
So the only question is whether Achilles’s power set is co-incidence or not. His name may be a call-sign, as with others. However he is only listed as being “Harold”, so perhaps he is “Harold Achilles”? With the first part being something he adopted when first names came into fashion.
* searches in vain for Oberon’s comment about Achilles *
:-P
Sorry bud. Normally I copy and paste names, because this is what happens when I let my brain handle the process. It is pretty much a dice roll as to what name it decides to give me.
Which does not sit well with girlfriends.
Yorp: “Oooh Sydney… ”
Random Harem Girlfriend #42: “Dah fuck?!”
Easily solved, I will just date girls named Sydney.
*wags tail cleverly*
I was wondering a bit about that also. But I’ve said pretty much the same thing in at least one prior comment sections, so I thought Yorp was just remembering that/those.
Yep. Which would also account for my lack of care on name checking. I have protocols in place, so that I can compensate for my condition. But they are time consuming. So I can become lax, when overconfident, due to thinking I’m on safe grounds.
Hmm….so no cell death then?
Not as far as has been observed.
I’m guessing, based on the ‘hairstyle unchanged’, and his generally unchanging nature, that his finger nails don’t grow/need to be cut. Likewise he would not have dandruff or shed any other skin.
Maybe there are some cells that need to die for other practical body function reasons, in which case those would probably do so, provided he was getting the necessary food to replace them.
Unless you are talking ‘super villain death trap cell’. In which case, no, those would be an exercise in futility for Achilles. :-)
….. so what I’m hearing from everyone is that I’m NOT the first person to ask these things. =)
Heh, nope. But it is good that the comic inspires these lines of thought.
I sure hope someone foresaw the obvious and has him swallowing some very hard to block tracking device or better yet something that acts as a beacon for a teleporter of some kind.
Might take a few thousand years for any Earth-technology transmitter’s signal to get back to Earth mind.
If the portal moves again yeah. Currently just worried about the potential cave in.
I’ve been away from this comic for about two years… And now I’ve caught up. This makes me sad. What makes me happy is seeing the improvements in Dave’s art (not that it was bad before), and that Yorp is still as active as ever!
Sets up a banquet, with dancing girls, musicians and tumblers (full of vodka and coke). Plus unfurls the banner:
I will be going dark in about a month, sadly. But hope to be back in due course, should I find somewhere with an internet connection. The conflicting need being finding somewhere kitty friendly, which must take priority. If I can’t manage both, then I will only be able to stick my head in once in a while, if passing an internet cafe or suitably equipped library.
Thank you!
And good luck with kitty-friendly lodging. I have two of my own, and can’t imagine life without them.
I feel left out now :). Not nearly as popular as Yorp.
You are with me! And I know plenty of folks have enjoyed your comments, over the years.
I just plaster my doggy icon all over the place, so am more visible.
*slides Yorpie a Yorpie snax under the table subtly for the ego boost*
*stuffs face happily, tail wagging*
ᴵ ʳᵉᵐᵉᵐᵇᵉʳ ʸᵒᵘ ₛₑₙₚₐᵢ
* ʳᵘⁿˢ ᵃʷᵃʸ *
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oq7B44odQ00
:)
*runs past Observer, and accelerates even more*
Sorry bud, you’re on your own on this one! Good luck.
[voice fading into the distance]
Being attentive sounds like a good strategy!
You need a distinctive icon! That gets everyone’s attention (and helps to jog memories).
Might I suggest that Pander go with something like this one, to include her profession, or the much more attractive type like this?
*cries*
*puts on black forelegband*
Never let ’em know you’re magical food.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sLKnt2jBax4
What is a non-super like Peggy going to do?!?
Bring in an Osprey full of supers, namely the Delta team.
Then act according to the circumstances. Most likely park the Osprey somewhere secure then take up overwatch position, as a sniper. Assessing the ongoing situation, keeping Archon appraised of any developments, and looking for any targets of opportunity which may arise.
Don’t forget that she managed to support Maxima, against Vehemence, by taking out one of his eyes. Up until he got so powerful that even lost limbs and organs ceased to bother him.
Further she took out Concretia, who is a even more durable than Vehemence! Theoretically she should have been invincible, even to the combined power of all the supers on the team at that time. Yet, with a dash of luck, and good hit and run sniping and ambushing tactics Peggy prevailed. On her own.
Whoah, lost track of this just after we first met Sciona. That went some interesting routes…
I did not expect [redacted] ..!
Another lost brethren returns!
*looks in tumbler*
It must be something in the vodka and coke?
Welcome back! The party is already going, help yourself!
Did anyone else have trouble identifying Mr. Amorphus initially? I spent 2 minutes going “wait, Hiro is on the other side of the portal…and the hair seems off?” before I looked at the cast list for the page…I thought he had less…chiseled?…features than Hiro…
I recognised him OK. But had the advantage of expecting him to be at that spot, so would not have had to think about it. Looking at him, I can see exactly what you mean.
Mind you he does have flexible skin, and has been sitting there with nothing much to do for quite a while. Perhaps he has been ‘toning up’ his face a bit.
*wags tail in a macho manner*
I’ve said it before, and I’ll keep saying it: Achilles is the bane of ArcSWAT’s uniform budget.
Erh… is it just me or is the who’s who and the cast page empty? *CONSPIRACY TIME*
The Who’s Who is fine. Your connection must have glitched. Just hit control F5 (or whatever shortcut your browser uses to force a memory cache refresh).
The Cast List is broken. You can find the original archived here (but it is slow to load):
https://web.archive.org/web/20170606160937/https://www.grrlpowercomic.com:80/cast
Or you can find most of it here (with a few minor omissions, but also with a lot more recent content too):
https://grrl-power.wikia.com/wiki/Cast
thats some lousy portal design there that allows pressure waves and energy to pass through it.
that could cause a lot of issues.
*evil wizard* “hah im gonna put this portal here at the bottom of the ocean and the other end on mars!”
Earth is destroyed and no one notices till its too late.
There was a Stargate SG-1 episode sort of about that, when they opened a stargate where a black hole was on the other side.
And since energy disruptions CAN go through the stargate even when the iris is up (back and forth, just like radio signals do), and the time distortion was messing up the 38 minute time limit on how long a wormhole could stay open, it was threatening to destroy the entire planet.
Because Stargate is both consistent on its science and uses a basis of harder science after you take into account the unobtainium involved (naquada).
In the Mohs scale of science fiction hardness, Stargate is about a 4.75 out of 6. For comparison, Mass Effect is 4.8 (Between One Big Lie and Speculative Science), Gattaca is 5.5, Star Trek is 2 (aka, World of Phlebotinum), Star Wars is 1, Battlestar Galactica is 3 (Physics Plus), and Ender is 5 (Speculative Science)
Apollo 13 is 6 (Real Life) – aka non-fiction.
There was also the Stargate episodes where Anubis projected a hologram into the Stargate command, the one where he fires a energy weapon through the Stargate in attempt to breach the iris, and I’m pretty sure there are a few others I’m not remembering at the time…
And to answer Killaim about the portal between sea floor and Mars, I’d have to sit down and do the maths behind it, but I’m pretty sure all that would achieve is making a gigantic ice/salt block on the surface of Mars, possibly the bottom of the ocean due to the temperature of Mars being -28C. It would take some time to form and block the portal, but eventually it would.
Already investigated by xkcd. With a second investigation covering what would happen to Mars.
TL/DR: The Netherlands / New Netherlands wins.
XKCD has you covered:
https://what-if.xkcd.com/53/
*stealth mode*
Although if you watch science videos on YouTube, you will come across commentators who rate Apollo 13 as being a 3 on that scale. Flat Earthers and Moon Landing Deniers like to haunt the science channels which have any space content. Their population density being inversely proportional to how hard core the science coverage is.
I honestly think most flat earthers on the internet are just doing it to troll :)
Especially with theories like this :)
https://pbs.twimg.com/media/Dey-6ZuVMAAAwys.jpg:large
Clearly FAKE!
It shows a round sun. We know that it is actually carried across the sky on a chariot.
Actually…. wait… new theory.
https://i.redd.it/f1dp8vuoz8oz.jpg
Lol.
Maxima: Understands the value of intimidation and “Shock and Awe”.
And uses it CORRECTLY.
Happy Independence Day / 4th of July / BIG BOOM DAY -Ivana
I hope y’all have a fun time.
It snuck up on me this year. But I have enough American friends that I spent an hour catching up on my well-wishing earlier.
*wags tail sociably*
*Fweeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeee…… BOOOOOM!!!! sparkle sparkle sparkle!!*
Is Giga Flare a reference to The Slayers Anime?
References are likely with Dave’s work. Although, with a bit of googling (as both are unfamiliar to me), Final Fantasy seems to have the better match.